JOIN USFunding Bengaluru's ward committees
We all know that ward committees have been taking baby steps in Bengaluru for the last couple of years after spending many years in cold storage. Ward committees were formally constituted in November 2018 in all 198 wards and the Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Council passed a resolution calling for monthly meetings on the first Saturday of every month and asked for minutes of the meetings to be posted on the Palike website.
When the Council’s term ended in September 2020, the term of ward committees too came to end. However, the then BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad took the proactive steps of continuing the ward committees by appointing nodal officers (to chair in the absence of corporators); opened them up for all citizens and asked them to meet twice a month (first and third Saturdays).
While we miss our Corporators in action and we hope they will be back soon, we did see several ward committees hold regular meetings with nodal officers taking the lead. However, in many wards, these officers were not active and did not hold the meetings. Lack of training resulted in meetings being less than effective.
Ward Committees came alive this year, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the BBMP budget.
To comply with Government notification, several ward committees became Ward DETER (Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response) Committees (WDC). WDCs played a critical role in fighting the virus by decentralising Covid management.
Nodal officers, ward-level officials and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) partnered with civic groups and residents for testing, tracing, isolation and vaccination. These efforts took different shapes based on the degree of citizen engagement. WDCs of Banaswadi, Domlur, Gottigere, Hegganahalli, Varthur, to name a few, did phenomenal work.
Fiscal decentralisation
The BBMP budget for 2021-22, presented on March 26, 2021, devolved ₹2,000 crores to BBMP zones making a
significant move towards fiscal decentralisation. The budget pleasantly surprised many of us by making several references to ward committees, for the first time ever.
An allocation of ₹20 lakh for footpaths, 1 per cent share of property tax; ownership of parks and playgrounds; and significantly, the budget specifically called out allocations for ‘works demanded by citizens’. This is no small addition of text in the budget book, it is a recognition, acknowledgement and most importantly institutionalisation of citizen participation in local governance.
Taking the budget forward, last month, the BBMP issued a notification communicating this allocation of ₹60 lakh for each ward committee (₹20 lakh each for footpaths, potholes and bore wells). The ward committees can decide how to spend these monies based on local needs.
While the quantum of funds is not significant, this progressive move lays the foundation for institutionalising ward committees and empowering them financially, thereby giving power to the people at the grassroots.
Golden opportunity
One of the first reactions is about the quantum of budget allocated – Can Rs 20 lakh per ward really solve the walkability issue? Maybe, maybe not. As citizens, we should see this as a golden opportunity that changes the way things work, where the ward committee decides how this money is going to be spent and builds a new decentralised and participatory governance narrative for this megacity. The Rs 20 lakh this year is likely to become Rs 50 lakh or Rs 5 crore soon. The need of the hour is to effectively leverage this budget allocation, and do so with urgent patience. Any change to the status quo will have to go through some challenges, but if citizens rise up to the occasion, we can turn the tide.
Corporators too will appreciate these new measures as it gives them more strength to address concerns of their voters at a zonal council and in the ward committees.
I sincerely believe that these small but significant measures by the BBMP herald a new chapter in participatory and decentralised democracy in our city.
To make this new chapter successful, we must strengthen the institution of ward committees by encouraging more citizens to join them, formalising the process and training all stakeholders on conducting meetings with clear agendas, using data to make decisions, timely publication of minutes, action items, and expenditure.
We must be proud that Bengaluru is the only megacity in the entire country to empower ward committees.
(The author is Head, Citizens Participation, Janaagraha)
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